Sentinel
by Shinigami's Death Angel
Summary: Companion piece to Grappling. Alfred watches as Dick grows up and falls in love with a certain redheaded speedster.


A/N: So this is my companion fic to _Grappling_ (and _Cape_ in some parts if you squint) and even though you don't have to have read my other fic to get this one there are parts that would make more sense if you did. While this one is mostly Alfred and Dick bonding, there's also Bruce and Dick bonding as well as Dick and Wally slashiness. Therefore, since there are three different pairings this could be put under, I decided to just put it as a Wally/Dick to go along with _Grappling_. Hope you all enjoy it until _Grappling_'s sequel is written, and keep an eye out for a special Bruce and Dick father's day fic!

**Sentinel**

Alfred could not imagine his life any different from the odd adventure that it was. From the very first day that he started on as the Wayne butler, he had unknowingly signed himself up for a life of serving a young boy who would later become the world's greatest detective, most feared hero of the night, and along with him a whole crew of superheroes with problems enough to fill a psychiatrist's career quota ten times over.

Dick Grayson was a man who would always hold a special place in Alfred's mind and heart, for he had been the first injured bird that Bruce had brought home and decided to keep. From the first night in, Alfred made sure to tend diligently to the little bird, setting broken wings and smoothing out storm-ruffled feathers with a gentle hand so as to not scare the boy.

Batman had actually been the one to bring the small Grayson in, handing him over to Alfred with barely a word before leaving the shocked butler standing at the opened manor door. Staring at the empty doorway leading out into the rainy night, Alfred had no clue what he was expected to do with the child in his arms. A small shiver and barely covered sneeze from the half-asleep arm full was all that was needed to spark Alfred's parental instincts.

After giving Dick a warm bath and finding some old pajamas of Bruce's that didn't completely drown the kid, Alfred took the silent boy's hand and led him to the kitchen. Standing by the stove waiting for the water to boil, Alfred had glanced back at the kitchen table to see Dick's small frame sitting quietly in a chair, legs swinging slowly back and forth while his eyes carefully took in his surroundings. Seeing Dick looking so small and innocent in the large kitchen of Wayne Manor, Alfred's mind instantly took the young Grayson into his care as his second charge.

When Bruce entered the kitchen ten minutes later, showered and changed out of his Batman skin, he found a smiling Dick Grayson talking animatedly to Alfred about riding circus tigers. Small hands were curled around a steaming mug of hot chocolate while the older man sat across from him with a cup of ginger tea, a rarely seen smile adorning his face.

* * *

><p>"Master Richard, if you do not stop wiggling about I shall have no choice but to continue pricking you with pins." Alfred had finally gotten exasperated with the nine year old who would just not stand still.<p>

Glancing down at the kneeling man and noticing the tightened lines around his brow, Dick offered a sheepish grin before pausing all motion. Waiting another moment to be sure that the boy wouldn't start fidgeting again, Alfred bent his head and continued to pin together what would soon become Dick's new superhero suit.

"M'sorry Alfred. I'm just excited. Bruce said he'd take me out with him tomorrow night." Dick explained excitedly, acting as if he hadn't been talking nonstop about his first nighttime patrol for an entire week already.

"As I am quite aware of, Master Richard. However, unless we manage to get this suit of yours done it may be longer until you take flight." Alfred warned, glancing up to make sure Dick got the message.

"Right, got it." Dick nodded, stiffening his limbs until he resembled an upright washing board. Alfred made sure to carefully hide his chuckle, less he offend his young charge, as he looked towards the robin's nest resting securely on the windowsill outside of Dick's window.

The morning Dick had woken up and realized that there was a family of robins right outside his window had seen a half-dressed Bruce and an impeccably groomed Alfred rushing in to see what all the excited yelling was about. After taking in the pajama clad youth half leaning out of his window to get a better look at the chirruping birds, Alfred had turned to watch the play of emotions across Bruce's face. With toothbrush still in his mouth, Bruce watched with hidden amusement as Dick jabbered incoherently on about how much he loved robins.

When Dick found out about Bruce's second life and finally convinced the man to take on a partner, he'd known immediately what his superhero identity would be. Bruce hadn't even batted an eye upon hearing that he would be working with a boy named Robin, and when those bright blue eyes had turned to Alfred asking for a suit it was hard to say no.

That's how Alfred found himself spending a perfectly sunny Saturday kneeling on the ground with rolls of black, red, and yellow material along with a roll of Kevlar. Bruce would take care of the weaponry and armor.

"Thanks for doing this Alfred." Dick looked away from the mirror in his room to turn his not yet masked eyes to the older man, who looked up in surprise.

"There is no need to thank me, Master Richard. Even when you come limping back to the Batcave with Batman time and again bleeding, hurt, and in need of medical attention, there will be no need to thank me. It is what I believe I was meant to do on this Earth. I may not be as strong or cunning as Batman, or as agile as you young Robin, but I do have the ability to patch you up after a night of crime." Alfred smiled at one of the only boys who could ever make him do so.

Bowing his head to finish Robin's Kevlar cape, Alfred was unprepared for the fierce hug that Dick suddenly wrapped him in.

"Master Richard?" It was not easy, by any means, to take Alfred by surprise anymore after his years with Bruce, but Dick Grayson was proving to be a very surprising child.

"I'll try to keep that in mind, but I make no promises."

* * *

><p>"Alfred? I'm on my way to Dick's school… No, he's not in trouble… I'm taking my meeting with me… Yes, it's Barry… No, I don't really want to know how you know… Don't get smug old man… He didn't get in a fight… No, he won't need any fussing over… Of course, you don't fuss. How dare I imply that you're a mother hen?... Yes Alfred, that was sarcasm… He may need an orthodontist though… He got stuck… Yes Alfred, stuck. As in, to another person… They were kissing…Alfred?… Alfred?"<p>

* * *

><p>Alfred knocked quietly on Dick's door, expertly balancing a small laden down tea tray in one hand while leaving his right one free. After a moment of silence Alfred heard a muffled bid to enter and promptly complied, opening to door to see a darkened room with the curtains drawn and lights out. An unmoving lump on top of the large bed in the room mumbled something incomprehensible as Alfred set the tray down on the nightstand before moving to get some light in the room.<p>

"Master Richard, I'm afraid I cannot understand you when you're talking to your bed covers." Alfred said mildly, busily setting about straightening up the room while watching the bed out of the corner of his eye.

"I disobeyed him Alfred." Dick finally raised his head to prop it half-heartedly up on a pillow, arms remaining flopped out at his sides. "I deliberately did something that he told me not to." He seemed to feel the need to elaborate upon himself as he kept his eyes trained on the headboard before him.

"Ah, that would explain the brooding mood he came home in, and the various cuts and bruises you have yet to let me see to." Alfred sent Dick a pointed look, satisfied to see the boy give a small wince of guilt.

"Sorry Alfred, I kinda just needed to get away from Bruce for a while." Dick apologized, remembering the way he'd sped through the manor on a beeline to his room, blowing right past the concerned butler on the stairs.

"Perfectly understandable, everyone gets a little bat tired every now and then." Alfred assured, picking up the small first aid kit he'd set on the tray before settling himself on the bed.

"Alfred, was that humor I sensed from you?" Dick grinned as he obligingly pulled off his sleeping shirt to allow Alfred access to his still smarting wounds.

"Of course not, Master Richard." Alfred kept a perfectly straight face, causing Dick to snort in disbelief before relaxing into the mattress as a sure hand smoothed healing cream over his back.

A comfortable silence fell upon the room for a while as Alfred looked over Dick's wounds with a practiced eye and Dick allowed himself to get lost in thoughts and musings.

"Hey Alfred? Bruce wouldn't get mad enough to, you know, kick me out…would he?" Dick attempted to make it sound offhand and casual, but couldn't quite keep the apprehension he felt out of his voice. Alfred paused in his ministrations, Dick's words shocking him into momentary speechlessness.

"I'm afraid, Master Richard, that Master Bruce is far too emotionally attached to ever let you go." Seeing that he had the boy's undivided attention, Alfred decided to continue. "Master Bruce is controlling, there is no doubt in anyone's mind about that. He likes to know how things will go so that he can predict the outcome. He will get on your nerves, and he will get mad when a wrench is thrown into his meticulously made plans, but I assure you that it's all because he loves you and constantly fears the possibility of losing you. I do believe that the only thing that could possibly strike true fear into that man's heart is being unable to save those he loves from pain."

"Yeah, that sounds like him." Dick said quietly, soft smile in place as his tensed frame relaxed again. "The softie."

"Hm, quite. Well, I think you will live to fight another night, Master Richard." Alfred twisted the cap back onto the antiseptic bottle and stood from the bed, bringing the tray with a plate of still warm cookies on it over.

"Thanks Alfred, you're the best." Dick sat up and put his shirt back on before eagerly digging into his nighttime treat.

"As I have said before Master Richard, there is no need to thank me." Alfred gave his youngest charge a small smile before taking his leave.

A couple of hours later, as Alfred was locking up the manor for the night he came across his two charges in the entertainment room. The only light in the spacious room came from the muted television, lighting up the two sleeping figures on the couch in soft splashes of color. Bruce was laying on his back, neck at an awkward angle on the cushions and right arm dangling off the couch along with the lower half of his legs. Curled up securely on the man's strong chest was a still small for his age Dick Grayson, Bruce's left arm wrapped protectively around him.

Emotionally attached indeed.

* * *

><p>"I have found that, more often than not, I find you brooding alone somewhere in a dark room." The dark figure hunched over the study's writing desk gave no indication that it heard Alfred's dryly spoken words. "You're taking after Master Bruce a bit too much for your own good, and if you're not careful you'll inherit that scowl of his as well." Not even Alfred's attempt at humor could incite a reaction out of the fourteen year old.<p>

Deciding to forgo the long-suffering sigh that he usually let out upon finding his young charge in the dark, Alfred set the tea tray on the desk beside Dick's head and opened the curtains with a swishing flourish. A pained groan gave the only evidence that Dick was still breathing when the bright sunlight flooded into the cool room.

"Alfre', go 'way." Dick mumbled, ignoring the disapproving look that he could feel being aimed at his back.

Knowing that arguing with the unnaturally stubborn teen would be useless, Alfred simply poured himself a cup of hot Earl Gray and settled himself against the desk. Patience, Alfred found, went a long way when dealing with the inhabitants of Wayne Manor.

"You're not going to wait the answer out of me this time." Dick warned, head still having not moved from its resting position on the desk. Alfred said nothing, eyes lazily taking in the manor's front lawn from the window as he slowly sipped at his tea.

After nearly half an hour of silence, Alfred was beginning to wonder if maybe he should start prodding the teen. Perhaps he'd actually outgrown the silent waiting method, something that his adopted father thankfully hadn't.

"Alfred," Nope, waiting still worked like a charm. "I'm gay."

In hindsight, Alfred figured that taking a big gulp of tea right as Dick decided to talk was not the brightest idea he ever had. In any case, his coughing and sputtering did finally make Dick look up in alarm before he leapt into action and started thumping Alfred on the back.

"Well geez, if this is your reaction I'd hate to see what Bruce's will be." Alfred finally stopped choking but Dick still hovered close by, hands slightly raised as if he expected the older man to suddenly collapse.

"Please forgive me, Master Richard. You caught me a bit off guard." Alfred set his cup down, letting out a few more coughs before feeling like he could finally breathe again. "Of all the things I had expected, I don't believe you admitting your attraction to Wallace was one of them."

"W-what?" It was now Dick's turn to sputter. "Who said anything about Wally? What's he got to do with it? He's off chasing...whoever it is this week, why-how-?"

"Denial is never good for one's health." Alfred decided to point out as Dick fell back into the desk's chair.

"It's not denial, it's preservation." Dick muttered, looking down to the sheets of algebra homework he'd been using as a pillow. Seeing the downtrodden look that had become far too common on Dick's face as of late, Alfred knew that he'd have to set aside his surprise for later. What Dick needed was someone to talk to, and he apparently wasn't ready yet for that person to be Bruce.

"I take it that Wallace does not share your...affections?" That sounded stilted, even to his own ears. The snort that his words garnered seemed to enforce that thought.

"Wally's been girl crazy since he hit puberty. Some days I think that our accidental kiss made him even more so than he normally would have been." Dick's forehead reacquainted itself with the deck surface with a dull thunk, making Alfred wince slightly at the bruise he could imagine forming.

"Master Richard, I highly doubt that being stuck to you at the mouth for a few hours traumatized Wallace to the point that he would chase after every body with the ability to wear a skirt." Realizing the implication of his words, Alfred hastily added, "In a socially acceptable setting, that is."

"I'm not going to turn into a transvestite." Dick assured the desk, smile obvious in his voice before muttering, "I don't think even Bruce could handle that."

"I don't think _I_ could handle it." Alfred added, deciding to break propriety for once and sat himself on top of the desk. Another snort told Alfred precisely what Dick thought of that.

"Wally's a cad. One moment he's making goo goo eyes at the closest skirt and the next he's...he's..." Dick's voice suddenly trailed off as he slowly raised his head, eyes blankly searching for something that only he could see outside the window. "He's making me feel like I actually matter."

Alfred made a questioning noise, prompting Dick to let out a hearty sigh before dropping his head back onto the desk.

"The other day, after Bruce and I stopped Riddler and he took me back to Mount Justice, I walked into the living room and Wally was there watching M'gann. I was dead tired and just wanted to get away from him and his female ogling but then he..." Dick raised his head again, propping his chin moodily on the edge of his homework. "He took my glasses off and was looking at me like-like I was the only person in the world and, call me stupid and naive but, I thought for a moment that...that-"

"He was going to lay one on you sir?" Alfred helpfully supplied, making Dick let out a laugh before turning to the butler with an amused glint in his otherwise saddened eyes.

"Really Alfred, where do you pick this stuff up?" Dick's question was answered with a wry smile and quirked eyebrow that made him realize that he probably did not need to know.

"Just give Wallace some time, he'll come around." Alfred assured, sliding off the desk and pushing the tray of tea closer to Dick before heading towards the door. "And if he remains too thick-headed to see what is right before him, then it shall be his loss. Man or woman, anyone would be lucky to have you for a boyfriend." Alfred paused at the doorway to look back at Dick, who had a sugar cookie already half in his mouth with wide blue eyes looking back at him.

"Thanks Alfred." Dick's voice was softly sincere, making Alfred nod once before leaving the room entirely.

"Just don't expect Master Bruce to be surprised when you tell him." Alfred's voice called back, nearly causing Dick to drop his cookie.

* * *

><p>It had been a couple of years since the warehouse incident that finally brought Wally and Dick together. In that span of time, Alfred had become accustomed to seeing evidence of the young speedster laying around the manor and had even come to the point where he couldn't think about Dick without tacking Wally onto the thought in some way.<p>

It had been awkward at first, to say the least, seeing his young charge kissing another man and cuddling on the rug in front of the fireplace. However, after the first time Alfred saw the deliriously happy expression that Wally put on Dick's face he knew that it was all as it should be.

What Alfred wasn't quite prepared for was walking into Dick's room late one morning to change the bedsheets only to find Dick still in bed, bared shoulders suggesting at the state of dress the rest of his body was in, entangled with another body. Wally's flaming red hair stood out starkly against the midnight blue pillow cases, ruffled from activities that Alfred decidedly did not want to think about. Wiry pale arms were wrapped around Dick's body sprawled across a bare chest, both young men still fast asleep with their steady breathing nearly in sync with each other.

The utter content on Dick's sleeping face nestled against Wally's neck was what made the whole scandalizing scene okay to Alfred. As long as the boy was happy, Alfred would stand by and allow him to make his own choices, even if they happened to be made rashly or based simply off of emotions and ended in ashes. Because no matter how hard his boys fell or how badly they broke, Alfred would be there to put them back together.

That being said, when a nervous Wally West showed up one day at the manor by himself and requested an audience with both Bruce and Alfred, Alfred knew what was coming. Sitting in the study, comfortable in his high backed chair, Alfred watched with barely concealed humor as Wally kept stumbling over his words, green eyes flickering up every now and then to glance at Bruce or himself.

Bruce listened to Wally intently, face blank and hands folded primly before him, which seemed to only unnerve the young man even more. Alfred was sorely tempted to laugh at the menacing image Bruce was projecting while on the inside the man was obviously enjoying making Dick's boyfriend squirm.

"And I really wanted to do this right, because you know, you're supposed to ask the girl's family-not that Dick's a girl! Well, it really depends on his mood and how frisky he's feeling, but you really didn't need to know that so just pretend I didn't say anything! Um..." Wally had almost completely curled in on himself ten minutes in and seemed to realize that he was as good as dead already. Closing his eyes and letting out a shaky breath, Wally seemed to find some kind of strength as he straightened his spine.

"I'm making a fool of myself, I know. But I love Dick, more than anything, and he makes me happy. I know I unintentionally mess up, and I know I'll undoubtedly mess up in the future, but for as long as I live I want to try my hardest to make Dick as happy as he makes me and it'd mean a lot to me, to both of us, if you guys would support us." Wally finally managed to get out a coherent thought, which impressed Alfred to no ends considering the speedster had done it while being subjected to the narrow eyed glare Bruce had leveled on him.

Heavy silence clotted the air of the room as Bruce remained unmoving, dark eyes carefully watching Wally who seemed determined to not fidget. Knowing that Bruce had seen how happy Wally made Dick and wanted nothing more than for his son to be happy, Alfred allowed himself to relax and wait for Bruce's answer.

More silence, more glaring, and more suppressed fidgeting.

"Have you gotten the ring yet?"

* * *

><p>Honestly, what kind of person was so impatient that they had to keep ringing the dang doorbell over and over again? Alfred was an aging man, he could only move so fast you know. Unlocking the front door and pulling it open with a huff, Alfred was fully prepared to let the person on the other side have it when he was met with sparkling blue eyes and a mile wide grin that was bright enough to blind.<p>

Spreading his arms out to the side, Dick stood there on the doorstep of Wayne Manor facing the man who had been there for him ever since the night he first stepped into his new life.

"I'm getting married!"


End file.
